Greyhound puts safety first

It turned out to be the deadly deed of but one deranged individual -- who slashed the throat of a bus driver resulting in the bus overturning in a ditch killing six passengers -- but the rapid response of Greyhound Lines, Inc. in temporarily shutting down travel on its routes shows how seriously the threat of terrorism is being taken by the transportation company. Passengers around the country who were angered by the delay in their travel plans should have been grateful instead.
Perhaps the single most important decision after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was shutting down all the nation's airports to prevent other flights from falling prey to terrorists. Inconvenience is a small price to pay for safety.
With 18,000 departures to more than 2,600 destinations around the country, Greyhound is the largest provider of intercity bus transportation in the United States. For hundreds of thousands of Americans who have no easy access to airports or who cannot afford airline tickets, going Greyhound has been their only transportation option -- other than driving themselves.
More risks: They deserve protection as much as do air passengers. But bus drivers do not have a cockpit to be locked into -- although Greyhound officials are considering ways to safeguard their drivers -- and there are no co-drivers to take over if a driver becomes incapacitated. Greyhound Lines President Craig Lentzsch said, & quot;Our drivers are basically alone with passengers for a long period of time ... and that does put them at greater risk. & quot;
Although the horrific attacks of Sept. 11 showed that Americans have long been vulnerable to acts of terrorism, it has only been since thousands were killed in New York, in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon that the realization has begun to sink in.
As Lentzsch observed, & quot;The world has changed in recent weeks. Our concept of what is acceptable security for ground transportation has changed, and we have taken steps to tighten security even more."
Most Americans would like to feel totally safe -- not just acceptably safe -- even knowing that they cannot be. Still, swift responses from corporate leaders help provide needed reassurance.